The CHL Daily News

By League Press Release

February 6th, 2002

QMJHL ALL-STARS LOOK TO WIN ANOTHER HERSHEY CUP

RIMOUSKI – The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League can win its second HersheyCup Wednesday night when the QMJHL Dilio Conference All-Stars take on theWestern Hockey League’s Western Conference All-Stars in the third and finalgame of the 2002 Hershey Cup CHL All-Star Series.

Game time is 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on RDS in Quebec andon Rogers Sportsnet.

The inaugural Hershey Cup was won last year by the QMJHL’s two all-starteams and the league has a chance to make it two for two by winningWednesday night’s game, to be held at the Colisee de Rimouski, the beautifulhome arena of the l’Oceanic de Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior HockeyLeague.

The 2002 Hershey Cup CHL All-Star Series opened up in Ottawa on Jan. 16,when the QMJHL Lebel Conference All-Stars defeated the OHL East ConferenceAll-Stars 4-2. Frederic Faucher of the Drummondville Voltigeurs sparkedQuebec with a pair of goals, while Jonathan Bellemare of the ShawiniganCataractes added three assists.

Matthew Lombardi of the Victoriaville Tigres and Jason Pominville of theCataractes scored the other goals for the winners. Olivier Michaud ofShawinigan, Jean-Francois Racine of Drummondville and Pascal Leclaire ofMontreal all played very well in the victory before 5,439 fans in Ottawa.

Zenon Konopka of the Ottawa 67’s and Blaine Down of the Barrie Colts scoredfor the OHL, while Peter Budaj and Andy Chiodo of the Toronto St. Michael’sMajors and David Chant of the Barrie Colts played in goal for Ontario.

The series continued Jan. 31 in Red Deer, Alberta, when the OHL WesternConference All-Stars defeated the WHL Eastern Conference All-Stars 7-2before 6,259 fans. Ray Emery of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and JasonBacashihua of the Plymouth Whalers combined to make 38 saves to lead Ontarioto the win.

That sets the stage for Wednesday night’s finale. If the QMJHL DilioConference wins, Quebec wins the Hershey Cup. The WHL Eastern ConferenceAll-Stars will have to win by eight goals for the WHL to win the Hershey Cupand if they win by less than that total, then the OHL wins the Hershey Cup.The WHL Western Conference All-Stars feature five members from Canada’ssilver medal winning team at the world junior hockey championships. JaredAulin of the Kamloops Blazers, Dan Hamhuis of Prince George Cougars, ChuckKobasew of Kelowna Rockets, Jarrett Stoll of Kootenay Ice and ScottieUpshall of Kamloops Blazers all played for Team Canada.

The QMJHL Dilio Conference All-Stars feature three of the league’s topscorers in Pierre-Marc Bouchard of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, and CharlesLinglet and Yanick Lehoux from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. The Quebec goalies –Dany Dallaire of Halifax Mooseheads and Adam Russo of Acadie-BathurstTitan – are ranked in the top five of all goaltender categories in theQMJHL.

The Hershey Cup CHL All-Star Series is an annual three-game all-starshowcase featuring two all-star teams from each of the CHL’s three leagues.At the conclusion of the series the league that wins the most games or hasthe best goals for/goals against ratio, wins the Hershey Cup.

SASKATOON’S JUSTIN KELLY IS THE CHL PLAYER OF THE MONTH

The CHL Player of the Month for January, 2002 is forward Justin Kelly of theSaskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League.

Kelly was selected as the WHL’s Eastern Conference Player of the Monthrecently and he beat out several other CHL players to earn CHL Player of theMonth honours for his outstanding work in January, 2002. He becomes thefirst WHL player to win the CHL’s monthly award this season.

The 20-year-old Abbotsford, British Columbia native had 13 goals and 10assists for 23 points during the month. His totals included seven power playgoals, one shorthanded goal and three game-winning goals.

Kelly got the nod over the WHL’s Western Conference Player of the Month,forward Duncan Milroy of the Kootenay Ice; the Molson OHL Player of theMonth Cory Pecker of the Erie Otters and the Quebec Major Junior HockeyLeague’s Players of the Month, Ales Hemsky of the Hull Olympiques(Offensive) and his teammate Eric Lafrance (Defensive). Details on theleague winners are listed below.

The CHL Player of the Month is selected from among the three CHL leaguenominees and announced during the first week of every month. The CHL Playerof the Week is selected from among the three leagues’ nominees and announcedin Tuesday’s editions of the CHL Daily News.

There are four games in the WHL on Wednesday night. Lethbridge plays atCalgary, Prince George is at Tri-City, Brandon travels to Prince Albert andMoose Jaw is in Saskatoon.

There were three games in the WHL on Tuesday night. Brandon knocked offRegina (8) 4-3, Tri-City beat Prince George 5-2 and Medicine Hat stoppedLethbridge 6-3.

At Brandon, Travis Young scored 2:47 into overtime to give the Wheat Kingsthe victory after Josh Garbutt’s goal had tied the score at 13:53 of thethird period. Ryan Stone added three assists for the winners while TysonMoulton had one goal and one assist for the losers.

At Tri-City, Scott Kelman had two goals and one assist for the Americanswhile Ben Kilgour added one goal and two assists. Ken Davis had one goal andone assist for Prince George while Joel Martin made 31 saves in goal for thewinners.

At Medicine Hat, Ben Thomson scored twice and Joffrey Lupul had one goal andthree assists to lead the Tigers to their win. Jay Bouwmeester and Chris St.Jacques both added one goal and two assists to the winner’s offence whileScott Borders had two assists for the losers. Sean Connors made 20 saves ingoal for Medicine Hat.

The WHL’s Players of the Month were announced recently in both the Easternand Western Conferences.

Forward Justin Kelly of the Saskatoon Blades was selected as the WHL’sEastern Conference Player of the Month. The 20-year old Abbotsford, BritishColumbia native also earned honours as CHL Player of the Month, making himthe first WHL player to win the award this season.

Kelly had 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points in just 11 games in January.His totals included seven power play goals, one shorthanded goal and threegame-winning goals. Kelly, 20, is a free agent.

Forward Duncan Milroy of the Kootenay Ice is the WHL’s Western ConferencePlayer of the Month for January.

Milroy, 18, fired seven goals and added 10 assists for 17 points to win theWestern Conference award. His totals included three power play goals, ashorthanded goal and three game-winning goals. Milroy is an Edmonton native.

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

There are no games in the OHL on Tuesday night and there are no games onWednesday night.

The OHL’s Performers of the Month were announced recently, led by the OHLMolson Player of the Month, forward Cory Pecker of the Erie Otters.

Pecker, a 20-year-old native of Montreal, scored 16 goals and added sevenassists for 23 points in 13 games last month, helping Erie post an 8-5-0-0record. The veteran right winger had five multiple goal games in January,including his first hat trick of the season Jan. 5 against Kitchener.

Pecker, a seventh round draft pick of the Calgary Flames, recorded 15 pointsover a six game stretch (10 goals, five assists), from January 5-13.

The OHL Rookie of the Month was forward Nathan Horton of the OshawaGenerals.

Horton scored nine goals and added five assists for 14 points in 10 gamesduring January as he continued his outstanding rookie season. The16-year-old Dunnville native had a career-high five point game against theNorth Bay Centennials Jan. 25.

The OHL Goaltender of the Month is Michael Mole of the Belleville Bulls.

Mole, who was acquired from the Mississauga IceDogs on Jan. 3, posted a7-1-0 record this past month, along with a 1.88 goals against average and a.941 save percentage. The 19-year-old Moncton, New Brunswick native postedhis first career OHL shutout in a 2-0 win over the QMJHL’s VictoriavilleTigres in inter-locking play Jan. 20.

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

There are no games in the QMJHL on Wednesday night.

There was one game in the QMJHL on Tuesday night as Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or battled to a 3-3 tie.

At Val-d’Or, Pierre Morvan’s goal at 17:57 of the third period gave theForeurs a 3-3 tie with the visiting Huskies. Jean-Francois Nogues made 34saves in goal for Rouyn-Noranda, while Eric L’Italien and Jonathan Gagnonboth had one goal and one assist.

The QMJHL Players of the Month for the month of January, 2002 are forwardAles Hemsky of the Hull Olympiques (Offensive), goaltender Eric Lafrance ofthe Olympiques (defensive) and Marc-Antoine Pouliot of the Rimouski Oceanic,the RDS/JVC Rookie of the Month.

Hemsky continues to rack up the points with Hull as the Olympiques havemoved into first place in their division. In 10 games in January, Hemsky hadsix goals and 16 assists for 22 points while also compiling a plus 11.

Lafrance was also outstanding in goal for Hull during January. He appearedin nine games and posted an 8-1-0 record and one shutout. His goals againstaverage was a very impressive 1.77 and his save percentage was .940.

Pouliot is one of the bright young stars on the Oceanic and he turned in astellar month. In 11 games in January, he had five goals and eighth assistsfor 13 points.

For complete QMJHL statistics and standings, visit the official QMJHL site.